A new agreement between UConn and state preservation experts will save two of the nine “Faculty Row” houses that had been slated for demolition and develop a reuse plan for them.
The Connecticut State Historic Preservation Office (SHPO) and the Connecticut Trust for Historic Preservation have agreed with UConn that the university will stabilize and maintain two buildings and develop a plan for reuse within five years. The parties also agreed to move forward at an accelerated pace to demolish the remaining seven houses.
Catherine Smith, commissioner of the Department of Economic and Community Development (DECD), which includes the SHPO, said the pact allows progress on the UConn campus as well as preservation of historic assets.
“By preserving these houses, we are keeping an important part of history, not only the university’s but Connecticut’s as well,” Kristina Newman-Scott, DECD’s director of culture, said in a statement.
A previous agreement would have delayed demolition until the spring of 2017. Demolition of four of the structures is now expected to begin before the end of the year.
The nine houses along Gilbert Road were originally built around 1920 as faculty residences, and many later housed fraternities and sororities or were used as office space. Students were moved out of the houses and relocated to Husky Village on Route 195 by 2003.
Once complete, the university plans to create park-like green space around the property, including grassy areas, plantings, trees, benches, and tables, UConn said.
The agreement “will allow UConn to continue to meet the goals of its master plan for the future while also respecting elements of our past,” said Laura Cruickshank, UConn’s chief architect and master planner.
